Why us?
Programme mission
More pupils than ever are struggling with reading in Key Stages 2 and 3 and beyond. Pupils who struggle with reading are often those who experience disadvantage.
Ensuring high-quality teaching of reading fluency and comprehension is a good way of supporting pupils' reading development. As well as ensuring interventions are available for the pupils who most need them.
Our design
Teachers and leaders have told us that, while they have made great strides in phonics teaching, they feel less confident in moving onto fluency and comprehension.
Leading Reading: Fluency and Comprehension is designed to support you to improve the quality of reading instruction in your setting. Our experts have built on our outstanding NPQ for Leading Literacy, to provide professional development that will improve your knowledge and practice of reading instruction. We use our experience in the sector to support you to plan and deliver high quality professional development in your setting.
Deepening expertise
Thousands of teachers and leaders have already passed their National Professional Qualification for Leading Literacy (NPQLL) with us. This is an opportunity to focus on putting your NPQLL into practice to improve reading fluency and comprehension across your school.
Benefits for you
You already have a strong foundation of knowledge, and a wish to improve reading in your setting. When you join our programme you will get…
- an opportunity to develop your knowledge of reading fluency and comprehension.
- a toolkit of six practical instructional strategies to use in your setting.
- the resources to deliver six hours of reading professional development.
- professional development and practice to support your delivery of these resources.
- support to prepare professional development in your setting.
- support to implement improvements in reading instruction.
- a chance to connect with knowledgeable peers to network and learn from one another in person and online.
Benefits for your school or trust
Improving reading is likely to be a high priority in your setting. Many existing solutions schools use rely on costly interventions, run in small groups or one to one. While these are important to meet the needs of some pupils, many pupils could be well-supported by frequent, high-quality reading instruction across the curriculum.
This means lots of opportunities to read and scaffolding that supports pupils to improve their reading. This is amplified when all of your teachers have a good understanding of how to teach and support reading in their subject or phase.
This programme provides your literacy leader with the knowledge and resources to support reading fluency and comprehension in your setting. Your investment will not only benefit the leader who attends the programme: it will also be disseminated to the teachers across your school or trust.
Benefits for your school or trust:
- Support your literacy leader to improve reading instruction.
- Provide high-quality, evidence-informed resources.
- Ensure that all teachers know how to teach and support reading in their subject or phase.
When reading fluency and comprehension is taught effectively, this can…
- unlock pupils' potential and improve their learning and outcomes across the curriculum.
- support all pupils in the classroom, so that interventions can be targeted for pupils struggling the most with reading.
- reading can be a challenge to effective transition between Key Stage 2 and 3. Ensuring reading is supported will assist all pupils to manage the literacy demands of the transition.
Overview
Leading Reading: Fluency and Comprehension is a two-day intensive programme led by our literacy experts.
On day one, you will focus on developing your knowledge of reading fluency and comprehension. You will be introduced to six evidence-informed strategies and consider how these might be used in different contexts. Day one is delivered in-person.
On day two, you will be supported to deliver and adapt the resources in your setting, to plan the professional development so that it has the best chance of sticking, and to implement the reading strategies that will be most useful in your setting. Day two is delivered online.
What you’ll learn
Participants on this exciting programme can expect to...
- be clear about how reading fluency and comprehension are developed.
- have a toolkit of practical strategies to select from and share with teachers in your setting.
- have the resources to deliver six hours of professional development in your setting.
- be confident that you can deliver and adapt these resources for teachers in your setting.
- have a plan for how to undertake professional development of reading in your setting.
- have a plan for how you would like to implement improvements in reading fluency and comprehension in your setting.
How you’ll learn
During your programme you will access...
- diagnostic tools that will direct you to tailored content that matches your starting point.
- self-study content that will provide you with theoretical underpinnings for developing reading fluency and comprehension.
- support from expert facilitators.
- opportunities to sense-make, practice and prepare for sharing approaches to reading fluency and comprehension in your setting.
Cost
How much does this programme cost?
The cost of the programme has been subsidised to £500* +VAT per person.
Please make sure you have budget holder approval when applying for this programme.
*Our philanthropic supporters are part-funding this programme to support Ambition’s mission to tackle education inequality by helping teachers and school leaders to keep getting better. Together, we’re shaping the future of education to give every child the best start in life.
Register your interest for this programme using this enquiry form.
Eligibility
Who should apply?
- You must have completed and passed the NPQ for Leading Literacy (with Ambition or an alternative provider).
- You should be well positioned to lead literacy training for teachers.
- You may work in a trust, a primary, secondary or middle school, or all through school.
- Examples of participant roles include school or trust literacy lead, phase leader, head of department, assistant headteacher or teacher.
Apply
How do I apply for Leading Reading: Fluency and Comprehension?
Complete an application here.
Our next cohort starts in March 2025. Apply by 7 February to join our next cohort.